Quote:
Originally Posted by Cortez
Cadillac did it back in 1981. It was a disaster and almost put the company out of business. The engine was a 368 cid. At the time they called it modulated displacement or the V8-6-4. They actually run smooth......when the valve activation and deactivation works correctly....that's not often but it was the computer. It ran a basic TBI fuel delivery system and solenoids that would lock valves under certain conditions. They didn't have any balancing problems but then again the family tree that those engines came from were beast.
A lot of the problem with those engines was when the valves would open. Since it was fogging the manifold with fuel when cylinders reactivated it would deliver fuel very unevenly causing bogging...bucking..
With modern technology you could iron out the problems. They put out a prototype a couple of years ago called the Cadillac Sixteen that used it. Don't think they are putting out a sixteen cylinder engine anytime soon.
|
Um... there are lots of engines now with cylinder deactivation. The current methods for cutting cylinders works much better than the old Cadillac system. GM learned that lesson, and Active Fuel Management (AFM) has been readily accepted since about 2005 IIRC. Dodge has it on their new "Hemi", Honda has it on some V6s.
The new thing Justme was suggesting is to have different bores on certain cylinders.